The Binge Crimes: Deadly Fortune - The Vanishing Of Janis Rose 6 The Real Janis

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

There’s only one person left who holds the truth, Janis herself. David and host Larrison show up to answer the remaining mystery: Why did she keep up decades of lies? Binge all episodes of The Vanishing of Janis Rose ad-free today by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge Crimes on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘subscribe’ or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access. From serial killer nurses to psychic scammers – The Binge is your home for true crime stories that pull you in and never let go. The Binge – feed your true crime obsession. A Sony Music Entertainment and Wildnight Media production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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We left off with Janice's son David, sending a request to the state of Louisiana for his original birth certificate. This document should list his birth parent's names, and hopefully that puts to rest all the gossip and rumors that have been following him since birth, that he was kidnapped or purchased as a baby. The story David's known to be true for most of his life is that Janice adopted him as a newborn from Charity Hospital in New Orleans. But after learning she was lying about her name, her past, even her husbands, David knows her story about his adoption

could very well be a lie too. Where are some of the things that you find yourself thinking about the most? Then my family really give me up? After everything David's heard, he can't help but wonder if it were his birth family's choice to give him up. And until recently, he's had no way of knowing. See, most adoptees get two birth certificates. The first one is issued at birth. Under parents, it lists their biological parents.

But as soon as they're adopted, that first birth certificate is filed away. and the state gives adoptees a brand new birth certificate with only their adoptive parents on it. That's why David's birth certificate lists his mom as Janice, or more accurately, Willie Joe, the fake name she was using. David never had access to the first one with his birth parents' names, until now. A few years ago, Louisiana passed a law allowing adoptees like David, to request their original birth certificate. He'd soon know who his birth parents were,

and that could give him something life with Janice guaranteed he never had. A permanent, stable connection with family. Throughout David's life, Janice brought him into so many different families, different people who'd cared for David when he was a kid, who were a huge part of his life, the folks in Poplarville,

Wes, his cool young stepdad, until his mom's lies got in the way and she dropped them. And so David had to drop them too. But he wonders if it has to stay that way. Do I have brothers or sisters out there that would like to know in possibly possible meat?

It feels like I'm just the only child. out there and just felt like I just got abandoned. Did you ever want siblings growing up? Kind of. Mostly a brother where I can pick on. What if there are siblings out there who look like him and talk like him? He thinks about what that would be like.

If one of them want to reach out and meet and hang out, I'd be all for it. I'd love they had questions about me and my life. y'all would tell them y'all would love to meet. And then an envelope arrives in the mail, addressed to David from the state of Louisiana. But when he opens it, it does not contain a birth certificate.

Instead, there's a letter. It reads in part, After performing an extensive search using the information provided on your request, we were unable to locate a sealed file for you. This correspondent serves as a formal report of the thorough search conducted to locate the sealed pre-adoption certificate you requested.

It was a pleasure serving you. Yeah. After performing a, quote, extensive thorough search, the state of Louisiana's answer is, that there is no answer. This is not a letter the state of Louisiana sends out that often. Of the 1,800 requests they've received, less than 3% have warranted this kind of letter. I wondered how this kind of news hit David.

Over around with emotions and questions. No answers. Because when it comes to Janus, every answer seems to be another twist. What we do know is the state of Louisiana has no record of David's adoption, which means that the only thing this whole inquiry appears to confirm is that his adoption, if that's what it really was, was probably not by the book.

And it's going to be up to David to figure out what the hell happened. Makes me want to go find my real family. Maybe the truth about David and Janice lies with yet another family, the one he was born into. After all, they would know how he came into their lives and how he left them. Unless, of course, Janice isn't David's only parent who's been keeping secrets. From Sony Music Entertainment and Wild Night Media, you're listening to The Vanishing of Janice Rose. This is episode six.

The real Janice. I'm Larison Campbell. When it comes to secrets, we know Janice is a master. But there is something Janice can't manipulate. Genetics. So David submits his DNA to every database willing to take it. Distant relatives paying a fourth cousin here, third cousin there. No close matches initially.

but then a group that specializes in connecting families through DNA reaches out to David after hearing about his story. Kate Howard is a former member of this nonprofit group, DNA Angels. They do a lot of work with adoptees like David. We believe that it is your right to tell your story and to name your biological heritage. We do not believe that you are here to keep your mother or your father's secrets.

And David is very tired of secrets. Kate takes David's case and almost immediately starts connecting dots. She figures out the community his family is from. Which is Louisiana Cajun. Specifically, the bayous in the southeastern part of the state. It's an area Janice knows well. It's where she lived and worked when she met David's dad. So odds are good that Janice got David in Louisiana, even if his adoption was never on the state's books.

As Kate keeps working, she makes what feels like a major break. We were able to identify a potential birth father. David's birth father. When we reached out to a child of the potential birth father who would be a half-siblings to David if we are, correct. This person was very excited and enthusiastic about testing. This is huge for David. It's a potential half-sister. After the connection is made, David even starts messaging with her and sharing photos. And she tells him he looks like her dad. And they said, you guys favor a lot.

This family David's always wanted, he can actually see it starting to take shape with him in it. There's even someone for David to pick on. She has a brother who is really close in age with David, she tells him. You and my brother were born the same year. Just a few months apart. It's all overwhelming, but in that good, hopeful way. The DNA match was for his half-sister's son. It's a solid connection, but before David can know for sure, his half-sister will need to send in a sample. And then they went radio silent. After agreeing to test, they stop responding. Kate, the DNA expert, is no stranger to this type of response. If I go to my dad and I say, hey, dad, this thing happened in genealogy. They asked me to take a DNA test. And if dad knows that he has a child out there that

everybody else doesn't know about, he's going to say don't take the test and stop talking to them. David and his half-brother being just months apart screams a fair, or some kind of relationship that was supposed to stay a secret. So that's where we are right now and it hasn't been helpful. How do you feel about this search right now? Like, how are you feeling? David about where you are in the process. To me, I feel like it's sucky. It's like mine's always off somewhere.

I'm not like I used to be. David says he's changed. He feels like he doesn't belong anywhere. And he thinks about the family he almost had, a brother, a sister, a dad, and how they just walked away from him. David tells me if he does have family out there, he's got a lot of love to give. It seems like I don't get a lot of love back sometimes.

Even the relationship he has with his mom. Sometimes he finds himself wondering if what he'd really loved were just her lies. And now that his biological family has shut him out, is that all he's left with? Either I'm a big secret affair or I'm just a mistake. That's how I feel. I wish we can find answers. Maybe it just said some type of life. Maybe I can feel better or maybe get the weight off my shoulders.

Just find out what's going on. But also this feels like that part of the family just don't want nothing to do with me. I don't want anything, but just enough. was the truth. That's all I want. There's only one other person who knows the truth. Her name is Janice Rose Bullock, and she lives in a Texas nursing home

in a memory care unit for patients with dementia. But I keep thinking back to something David's wife, Carolyn, had told me about Janice. About how, as Janice's dementia had gotten worse, that wall that separated Janice's. Janice's identity and Willie Joe's identity had begun to dissolve. With the dementia came out the truth. Could Janice finally be ready to tell David the truth about where he came from and everything else?

Or had her dementia advanced so much that she wouldn't remember the secrets she'd worked so hard to keep? There was only one way to find out. Tell us where we are, David, and what we're doing today. We're in Dallas, and we're going to go visit a mom. Carvana's so easy, just a click, and we've got ourselves a car. See? So many cars. That's a click-tastic inventory.

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The binge. Feed your true crime obsession. On an April weekend, I meet up with David and Carolyn early in the morning at my hotel room in Dallas, Texas. In just an hour, we'll be heading up the road to talk to Janice. David's nervous. I find out this is the first time he'll be seeing her in person since before he found out she'd been lying about who she's. was and where David came from, three years ago, though he still calls his mom.

I try to talk to her a couple times a week or a month. He doesn't tend to bring up her deceit. I was really surprised he hadn't seen her in person. The woman he admits is the most important person in his life outside of his wife. He tells me he hasn't visited her because of his busy schedule, I just think it's got to be a little more. He says he's worried she won't know who he is. She has it. He remembers us and, oh, happy, I just don't want to ask questions and they change. I just want to remember her as a good person. Are there questions that you do want to ask her? I do, but I'm afraid to. But Carolyn isn't. David's Rock and occasional spokesperson has a list ready. what made her want to abandon her children.

We want to know, did she know the biological family? Did she personally know them? Is that how she got David? Does she know exactly where he came from? I ask about Janice's dementia. It's a potential complication, not just when it comes to getting the truth from her,

but also ethically. We want to make sure she feels comfortable with our recording her. It will be myself and a producer, Lindsay. Two people she's never met. We make a plan up front. How do you feel about our asking questions? You can ask all the questions you want.

Though answers might be hard to come by. If you can get them, that would be great. I don't know how she's going to be. I don't have any expectations. Janice's nursing home sits back from the road, behind a parking lot. Inside, the hallways are wide, the floor's linoleum, the lighting fluorescent. It feels like a cross between a dorm and a hospital. The walls are decorated with aphorisms that may not have been thought all the way through.

At the entrance to the memory care unit, where Janice and other patients with dementia live, a poster reads, Not all who wander are lost. David and Carolyn enter Janice's room. Lindsay and I wait outside. They want to talk to her first and then decide if it's a good idea for us to come in.

We got somebody who would like to meet you, though. Okay. They give us the go-ahead and we walk inside her room. As we get situated, I study the woman in front of me. She's tiny. probably no more than five, two, and then. Her jeans and gray sweater are loose,

and it's not what I'd expected. In the photos I'd seen and stories I'd heard, she'd been full-figured and vibrant. Is it nice seeing David? Yeah. Just, you know my David. Janice looks to David and asks if he's her David. Just on your David.

I'm Trey I'm here I didn't want to I didn't want to sign it because I'm okay I'm Trey I'm here David She smiles big

tears began streaming down her cheeks as she latches onto David with both arms He'd been worried She wouldn't remember him She says she didn't want to ask If this was her David

But she seems happy She tells him They have to start getting together. Maybe at the ranch where David grew up. We can be still at the range. Well, we don't have the ranch anymore, Mom. That's been going for a while. It is? Yes.

That's why, huh? Yeah. She takes a deep breath. That's life, she says. As she settles into a puffy, tote recliner, David perches on the edge of her bed. We explain we're recording because we're working on a project about about her life, and she says that's fine. So, now it's time. We're ready to ask these questions that have been gnawing at David and at me

for so long. But now that we're here, I don't think any of us know where to start. I'm holding back, giving David the opportunity to ask his questions, but he doesn't, so I try to break the ice. What was David like as a kid?

Can I really tell him? He was my light. Nobody ever missed with me. He was always there. Yes, he did. Yeah, I was telling him about the trip to Disney World. Yeah. And we got to on that.

It's like, you know where we go in there? We go, let's go get on this one, and it's going around, around, right, around. And then I couldn't he let go because he had to help me. Oh, I was scared. Teacups or the other ride. It spends you around and puts you like zero gravity. This is one of those happy memories.

The kind David has clung to over the last few years. Proof that even if she wasn't Willie Joe, she was every bit a great mom to him. I'm encouraged that it seems to have stayed with her to some degree. We were talking to David about some of his memories from when he was a little boy and he was telling us about Christmas at the ranch. And I did it. I did it here last night.

I said I was just out. And everybody. As we talk, I begin to realize that some of the answers she's giving me aren't responses to our questions. But every so often, it feels like the clouds part. and we get a window of clarity. Do you think about your four girls? Every day. I don't get to see them, but every day.

Yeah. Do you have y'all talk to mother? I have not talked to your mother. She asks us about her mom a lot, and her sisters. These early years seemed easier for her to reach. So I thought I might be able to get a sense of the biggest question of all, why she had left and started this whole mess to begin with. After you left the house, do you remember where you went after that? Did you stay in

Mississippi? Did you go to Louisiana? Well, I had to get out of that place. And then I got up and I got the children up and we left. I thought my sister, Dar's, was going to come help me. I couldn't do it. It was, I had just gotten to the point. And that one thing, I couldn't put them in a, I can't. I couldn't. I couldn't do it. I carried all four of the children, and I took them to me.

I had to get out of that place. I got the children, and we left. And then she mentions her sister that she thought her sister was going to come help her. It makes me wonder, is Janice trying to explain that she felt desperate? That she was overwhelmed, needed help, and wasn't getting it,

and then just left without thinking it through? She doesn't complete the thought, and I'm not able to get any more from her. These memories are like grabbing a fistful of sand, and she has just a moment before the grains all slip through her fingers. Even so, it seemed like I needed to go ahead and ask about David. So one of the questions we were hoping to ask you and find out about is

I, and David, I don't know if you want to ask this question, but sort of about his adoption. What do you remember about his adoption? I just loved him. Back then you just didn't. It wasn't like that, like it is now, because I just didn't know how, I didn't know how to do that. I would always, we'd be here and are usually around here, and it's wonderful. What do you remember about where you adopted David from?

Was it a family? Was it a hospital? Was it? That's in Mississippi, and they don't give you another praise. If you want to go, there it is. Maybe there was a time when we could have asked these questions. But I think that time has passed. And as we sit there, something occurs to me. In a way, Janice got away with it. She ran away, started a new life,

and never had to answer for what she did. Even now, with her son and his wife sitting beside her, two reporters. She doesn't have to own up to a single thing. As we sit there in silence and I'm turning this over in my head, Janice once again surprises me. I knew one day this was going to come. What?

What? How can I have been a better person? And I'd be back with my daddy or my mama. Was Janice just for a brief moment finally coming clean? Or am I reading into something that's not really there? After we leave that day, I spend a lot of time thinking about what felt like Janice's fleeting moments of clarity. When she seemed to say she felt alone and overwhelmed.

and when I thought I heard her express regret. So I reached out to a neurologist, Madeline Sharp, who specializes in neurodegenerative diseases like dementia. I shared excerpts of our Janice visit with a hope that she could tell me what, if anything, I should gather from it. If I were just as a clinician trying to counsel this son who is trying to understand what any of this means, I feel like I would have to tell him,

I don't think you can make anything of it. this. She notes how unclear Janice's answers were and her incomplete thoughts and sentences. And what memories is she actually retrieving, if any? True ones? Or memories of the lies she's repeated her whole life and cemented? How does recollection happen on a very, very, like, well-conceived web of lies? It's nearly like she encoded these false memories that became her sense of real memories. You know what I mean? It's like just like the wonder of this black box that contains information that is now like rendered completely inaccessible. So it's kind of amazing when you think about it. Like she holds all of the the keys to all of the truth yet it is not possible to

open it. I asked David what he thought. It don't seem like her. It's not her. It's just I don't think She's there anymore. Sad. See her that way. Her mind's gone. It's hard to get my emotions out right now. I don't know how I feel. David has been let down at so many turns.

By Janice. By the state of Louisiana. Even by his own DNA. So I called up one of David's distant biological cousins. They'd connected through the DNA nonprofit and stayed in touch. I was catching her up on David's search when we realized something. David's suspected half-brother, she's actually friends with his wife. So David's cousin calls her friend up and makes the ask.

And it turns out it is all in who you know, because he agrees to take a DNA test. A few weeks later, David calls me. What do you have? What's the news? News, I just find out I have a half brother and possibly find out who my dad is. What's up, Rich people? It's me, Haley, aka Mrs. Dow Jones. Money is the thing that people least want to talk about, right behind sex and death. That is why I have taken up on myself to start a new podcast called Financial Tea. Every single week, I will break down. what is happening in money right now. Plus, I'm going to bring on experts, entrepreneurs, and influencers to spill their financial tea. You're always going to leave with actionable

advice that you can use to level up your own financial game because it's 2026. We're not playing around anymore. We are getting rich. And of course, you are going to be part of the show too. If I take a break from work to raise a kid, am I totally screwed when I try to go back? My son is paying half of his girlfriend's boob job, plus 80% of their New York City rent. How do I stop lying to myself about what I can actually afford? Financial tea drops January 15th wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube. David and I are on the phone, and I can't believe what I'm hearing. He's finally getting answers, proof that he has family, a half-brother and a half-sister.

Oh my God. This is incredible. David's telling me everything he knows so far. These half-siblings and father are the same people the DNA nonprofit suspected. I ask him if his half-brother knows who David's mom is. I have no idea. That part's complicated. And turns out a big reason why this search has been so difficult.

David says when his half-brother confronted their dad, his dad denied the whole thing, didn't want to talk about it. As David feared, Janice may not be his only parent with secrets. And it seems possible that the one David's birth father is trying to keep is big. It's not just about how close David and his half-brother are in age, or that his dad was young,

just a teenager when David was conceived. It's about who David's mom may be. There's a twist quite literally in David's DNA. His parents are related to each other. That DNA nonprofit group ran a test called The Are Your Parents Related Test? This is Kate again, one of the DNA researchers. And it literally gives you a picture of all of your chromosomes.

and when you have identical runs, it lights up. They take David's DNA and they run this test. And it had come back, yes. His parents are related at a relationship level that is similar to First Cousins. I would say that consumer DNA testing has helped us understand how prevalent incest is. I think David has been searching for so long, so I don't think he was particularly stunned or appalled or anything like that. I called David up to talk to him about all this.

No, he wasn't appalled. But this wasn't exactly what he was expecting either. Was I surprised about it? It just kind of threw me off. It threw him off, he says. Because there are a few things. things DNA can tell you that are more taboo than incest. It bridges cultures and stretches back centuries. Marriage between first cousins is illegal in around half the states, including Louisiana.

It's not a comfortable thing to talk about, that David's parents could be cousins. In fact, in a lot of cases, it's not just the parents who want to keep incest secret. So I asked David if he's okay. not just with knowing this, but talking openly about it. And he tells me he is, that at this point he doesn't really care. And it's not like he's the first person who's found this out about his family. It's happy to happen. I'm not well, you're going to change it. And maybe it helps that not everyone in his birth family thinks that his story should be secret.

David tells me he's been chatting with his half-brother. And it sounds like they already have a lot in common. They fish. They both love Cajun food. And he wants to know, but he wants to talk to me. He wants to meet me. He wants to meet you? Yeah. David sounds light, excited. It's so different from how he sounded over the last year. He tells me some of his cousins and his half-brother and sister have invited him to meet up later this fall.

Does it still feel lonely or is it changing? It's changing now because, When I first started off with DNA and Angels, they always got hitting dead in. It just felt like I didn't have any brothers or sisters. Yeah. Oh, gosh, I really, I'm really, really happy for you, David. I'm really happy. It's a lot to absorb.

But having some sense of truth, I can tell he feels relief. He's still chipping away to get those answers. He hasn't yet reached out to the woman who might be his birth mother. But he tells me he plans to. Of course, this doesn't clear up the rumors that David's adoption likely wasn't legitimate. But that also doesn't mean it has to be some sinister thing. Maybe Janice wanted a baby. And he needed a home.

As I've worked on this, I've wished I could talk to the Janus who made the decision to leave, to see inside her head and give me something that would make this story make sense. And then as I was finishing this show, I came across something that has both helped me understand Janice in a way I didn't expect and made her choices even more mysterious. A letter she wrote. It's addressed to one of her sisters, inked in red ballpoint pen and wedged deep in the hundreds of pages in that police file. There's no date, but it sounds like that. like it was written around the time she was leaving her daughters.

I'm going to read it. I've edited it down some for time and clarity. She writes, I started to come see you a couple of weeks ago. My ride turned off on I-10 coming back north. It's already beginning to get cold at night up here, but it's still hot as hell during the day. I don't have a permanent address.

As soon as I do, I'll get in touch with you. I still have all the hangups I've ever had, but I try not to think of them. If I did, I'd be crazier than I already am. I love you and miss you. But I have to find myself. I've had too much hurt. I can't take anymore. When I stop hurting, maybe I can quit running.

You couldn't understand why I wouldn't get in touch with anybody. You couldn't understand why I was running. I can't take any more hurt. And when you get close to somebody, you get hurt. I never will again. I try to block everything out of my mind. I can't always. But I never cry.

I'll never cry again. Then you say, well, it's all my fault. I did it all myself. If you think so, investigate yourself and see, I got fucked. There ain't no two ways about it. But I'm tired of fighting. I've been fighting for 12 years. I don't have the strength to fight anymore. My own children didn't want me anymore. I've always done the best I could. My best must not be good enough. I don't mean to make you worry. You're the only one who offered to help. Everybody else said to

never step foot in their house again. Well, I better close. Please don't worry about me. I haven't missed a meal yet. Never stay in one place long. Love you and miss you. Jan. This letter is the closest thing we have to the moment before

she'd start running for the rest of her life. It reads of someone who is in a great deal of pain and someone who can be incredibly manipulative. In it, she says she's been fighting for 12 years. That's about how long she and her husband had been together before she left for good. She also says people wouldn't allow her in their homes. I get the sense something happened to her reputation, something was broken, something that made her decide to start over.

But I think she's also doing something. else with this letter. She's laying out her plan. The accuracy here is almost breathtaking. She says she's been hurt, and she's never going to let that happen again, so she's making a clean break with the people she loves. In fact, she's never going to get close to anyone again, and she's going to keep running. If this is the beginning of her con, it's almost like this is her manifesto. But of course, the point of a manifesto isn't just to lay out a plan. It's to get others on your side. Is that why she says her daughters, who, again, weren't older than 10, wanted her to leave? Because that cannot be the truth. Those girls wondered where their mom was

for 40 years. Or was this, her biggest lie? when she was actually telling herself. After all this, I wanted to know from her son what his takeaway is. Do you think she's a bad person? To me, no, because the way she raised me and her thing, I think she's a very good person. But I never knew about her past like that. I can't see she's a very horrible person,

but I just think she's just a bad person for abandon her daughters. and pretty much making a new life for her. It's interesting. In the same police file where I found Janice's letter, her daughters described a mom that bore little resemblance to the one Janice's friends saw, even the one David said he had. They don't describe her as a laid-back mother playing with them on the floor.

One daughter says Janice would take them to bars, leave them with whomever. She said she has no good memories of her mom. Throughout my reporting, I've debated whether to refer to her as Janice or Willie Joe. I settled on Janice. But as I read this letter, I wonder if I've gotten it wrong. To her, Willie Joe may not have just been a fake identity she hid behind,

a way to keep her past from tracking her down. I think it's more like she had to kill Janice. She became that different person. And that's what she wanted. So when I think about the more than four decades-long search for Janice, how she spent years just a few towns away unseen by a family who wondered where she was, maybe the reason she was so hard to find was because no one has. ever actually knew who they were looking for.

Unlock all episodes of The Vanishing of Janice Rose, ad-free right now by subscribing to the binge podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of this show, but you'll get binge access to an entire network of other great true crime and investigative podcast. All ad-free. Plus, on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series. That's all episodes, all at once. Search for The Benge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple. Head to getthebenge.com to get access wherever you listen. The Vanishing of Janice Rose is produced by Wild Night Media for Sony Music Entertainment's The Benge. The show was written, hosted an executive produce by me, Larison Campbell. The executive

For The Binge are Jonathan Hirsch and Catherine St. Louis. The show's senior producer and story editor is Lindsay Kilbride. Sheba Joseph provided production support, and Aaliyah Pape's fact checker. Mixing and sound design for this series by Scott Somerville, with music from Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions. The show's theme song is Shake Me by Lydia Ramsey. Legal review by Davis Wright-Tremaine.